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| Sea of Galilee viewed from Mount of Beatitudes |
Children
play make-believe games in which they are royalty—kings and queens, princes and
princesses—but one of the main attractions of this kind of fantasy play is the
imagined wealth that goes along with it.
Who would not like to wear the finest clothes, live in the finest
dwellings, dine on the best food, and be waited on hand and foot by servants?
This is
our standard notion of what “royalty” involves, but in this Sunday’s readings
Jesus inaugurates a new kingdom, the “kingdom of heaven,” in which the
aristocrats are going to live a lifestyle completely opposite of Robin Leach’s “rich
and famous.”
who have observed his law;
seek justice, seek humility;
perhaps you may be sheltered
on the day of the LORD's anger.
But I will leave as a remnant in your midst
a people humble and lowly,
who shall take refuge in the name of the LORD:
the remnant of Israel.
They shall do no wrong
and speak no lies;
nor shall there be found in their mouths
a deceitful tongue;
they shall pasture and couch their flocks
with none to disturb them.
Zephaniah
is read only rarely in the liturgy, so let us take this opportunity to make
some comments about this important prophetic book.
Zephaniah
is unique among the biblical prophets in that he descended, apparently, from
the royal house of David, being a great-great grandson of King Hezekiah
(715–686 BC; Zeph 1:1). During the reign
of King Josiah (641-609 BC), Zephaniah announced, in bold and colorful
rhetoric, the imminent arrival of the “Day of the LORD,” which he described as
a day of definitive judgment on all the people of the earth, including and
especially the people of Judah.
Nothing
more can be determined about the life of the prophet or his dates of ministry
beyond the information given in the book’s superscription (Zeph. 1:1). The book itself divides easily into three
major units: (1) an announcement of the
coming Day of the LORD (Zeph 1:2-18), (2) a series of oracles against nations
and cities, beginning and ending with Judah and Jerusalem (2:1–3:8), and (3)
oracles of restoration for the nations and Jerusalem (3:9-20).
Several
times in Zephaniah oracles of universal judgment (or restoration) are
juxtaposed abruptly with oracles addressed specifically to Judah or
Jerusalem. This juxtaposition is based
on the theological concept that Judah, and particularly its capital, Jerusalem,
represents the center of the cosmos.
Therefore, what happens to the cosmos affects Judah/Jerusalem, and
likewise, what takes place in Judah/Jerusalem affects God’s relationship with
the entire cosmos. This concept of
Jerusalem as “cosmic navel” will also be reflected in the New Testament,
notably in the Book of Revelation and the apocalyptic discourses in the Gospels
(Matt 24; Mark 13; Luke 21), where the destruction of Jerusalem and the
destruction of the cosmos are simultaneously described.
Like many
prophetic books, Zephaniah ends on a note of hope. In the future, all nations will call on the
LORD with a pure speech (3:9) and the exiles of Israel will return (3:10). The humble remnant of Israel that survives
the wrathful “day of the LORD” will find refuge in the LORD, who will comfort
them (3:11-13). Zephaniah concludes with
an exuberant song addressed to the “daughter of Zion” (i.e. Jerusalem). Like a
warrior renewing his affections for a maiden, the LORD will renew his nuptial
love for Jerusalem (3:14-18). The LORD
will gather his humble ones into the holy city (3:19-20), and restore her
fortunes. (3:14-20).
There is a
strong liturgical theme throughout Zephaniah.
The coming time of God’s judgment is described as if it were a
liturgical feast (a “Day of the LORD”), and the pouring out of God’s wrath upon
the earth, and especially Jerusalem, is presented as a heavenly liturgy in
which the evil doers are transformed into sacrifices. At the end of time, the nations will be prepared
for authentic worship (i.e. to “call on the name of the LORD” and “serve him”,
3:9) by being granted a “pure speech,” i.e. a language suitable for the
celebration of the liturgy. The humble
and lowly remnant of God (3:12) will gather at the place of worship: the “holy
mountain” (3:11), i.e. Zion/Jerusalem.
The renewal of God’s love for Jerusalem will involve joy suitable for a
sacred festival (3:17). Thus,
Zephaniah’s eschatological hope focuses on the restoration of communion between
man and God through the celebration of the liturgy, in the proper place of its
celebration (Zion/Jerusalem), and the tribulations leading up to this
restoration of communion are in fact the earthly manifestations of a heavenly
liturgy. This entire paradigm will be expressed in greater depth and detail in
the New Testament, in the Book of Revelation.
The
Lectionary chooses all of its readings from Zephaniah from the oracles of
restoration (3:9-20), especially from the song of the daughter of Zion
(3:14-18).
Zephaniah’s
image of the “people humble and lowly” (3:12), the remnant of Israel that finds
refuge from the LORD in Zion, is taken up in the preaching of Jesus as he
“proclaims Good News to the poor” (Isa 61:1; Luke 4:18). Zeph 2:3; 3:12-13 is proclaimed this Sunday,
paired with the Beatitudes (Mt 5:1-12a) in order to show that Jesus’s concept
of the “poor in Spirit” who will receive the “kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3) is
not a theological novum, but a
development of the prophetic theme of the humble and righteous remnant. The community of disciples gathered around
Jesus is this “people humble and
lowly” prophesied by Zephaniah (3:12), and this community becomes the Church!
P. Our Responsorial
Psalm is Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10:
R.
(Mt 5:3) Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
The idea of the “kingdom of God” is
very rare in the Old Testament. In fact,
the phrase “kingdom of God” never occurs!
The reality of God’s kingdom
is described in some texts of Daniel (2:44; 4:34; 6:26; 7:27). The Books of Chronicles use the very similar phrase
“kingdom of the LORD” to describe the Davidic Kingdom (1 Chr 28:5; 2 Chr 13:8!)
and that is a very significant fact for understanding Jesus’ teachings on the
“kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” in the Gospels.
Only a few psalms mention God’s
kingdom (e.g. 103:19). The most explicit
mention comes near the end of the psalter, in Ps 145:13: “Your kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all
generations.” This idea of the kingdom
of God, expressed so clearly and suddenly in Ps 145, is continued in Ps 146,
our responsorial, in the tenth verse: “The LORD shall reign forever! Your God,
O Zion, through all generations!”
The Church chooses Ps 146 because of
this kingdom theme, expressed in the previous psalm and picked up again in
146:10, together with the theme of God’s provision for the disadvantaged: the oppressed
(or “poor,” v. 7), the hungry (v. 7), captives (v. 7), the blind (v. 8), the
bowed down (v. 8), the righteous (v. 8); migrants, fatherless, and widows (v.
9). The “reign” of God is for such as
these. We see the strong similarity
between this catalogue of the disadvantaged and the catalogue of qualities of
the blessed in our Gospel Reading.
It is very important that we
recognize this continuity between the Old and New Testaments. Jesus does not proclaim something completely
new in the Sermon on the Mount. He says,
“I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets (i.e. the Old Testament),
but I have come to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17).
And so the Church chooses the readings from Zephaniah and Psalm 146
precisely to show how Jesus’ teaching fulfills hopes and anticipations which
were already present in the Scriptures of Israel.
Consider
your own calling, brothers and sisters.
Not many of you were wise by human standards,
not many were powerful,
not many were of noble birth.
Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God.
It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God,
as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
so that, as it is written,
"Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord."
Not many of you were wise by human standards,
not many were powerful,
not many were of noble birth.
Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God.
It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God,
as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
so that, as it is written,
"Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord."
Although
the Second Reading is working ad seriatim
through important passages of Paul’s Corinthian letters, we could scarcely ask
for a better thematic match to the Gospel on this Sunday. Here, St. Paul stresses God’s preferential
option for persons who are despised by human society: poor, outcasts, the
politically incorrect, those who are deplored and despised by the elite. Such persons come more readily to the Gospel,
because they recognize their own need.
Wealth and success does not blind them to their essential
nothingness.
This
passage of 1 Corinthians exhorts us to practice the virtue of humility. We recognize that, in the presence of God, we
are nothing—we are nothing, have nothing, can do nothing. And yet we rejoice that God gives the one
thing that is everything: his Holy Spirit.
God living in us through his Spirit enables us to be all, have all, do
all. “I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me,” Paul boasts elsewhere, always boasting in the Lord and
never in himself (Phil 4:13). This
recognition of our own nothingness in God’s presence is the heart of what
“poverty of Spirit” means in the first beatitude of our Gospel Reading.
When
Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven."
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven."
First, we
should recognize that when Jesus “goes up on a mountain” to teach, it is a
Mosaic motif. Moses was the great
teacher of Israel, who climbed Mt. Sinai to teach the Law of God. Jesus is recapitulating this motif. Jesus is the New Moses, who will teach a
better law, and correct some of the compromises that Moses introduced into
Israel’s legislation (Matt. 5:21-48).
Now, with
respect to the Beatitudes (which are just the introduction to the Sermon on the
Mount and not synonymous with the entire Sermon, which lasts from Matt 5-7), we
should note that there are eight main ones, vv. 3-10, followed by an epilogue
on persecution (vv. 11-12). The first
and eighth beatitude promise the blessing of the “kingdom of heaven.” That is a literary device called an
“inclusio” (beginning and ending on the same topic) which highlights the main
point. So the Beatitudes are about the
kingdom of heaven, specifically, they are the virtues that are required of
kingdom citizens.
Finally,
we should note that the beatitudes are not a simple grab-bag of random virtues,
but there is a certain progression as we move through them. They are all inter-related, and to a certain
extent they move from one to the next.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The primary
reference is poverty of spirit, which is a recognition of one’s spiritual
bankruptcy and need to be infilled with God’s spiritual riches, i.e. his
Spirit, granted by faith through the sacraments. Nonetheless there is a relationship with material
poverty. Material riches can be a great distraction to the spiritual life,
sidetracking us to pursue goals other than God.
So elsewhere Jesus will warn about seed that is choked by the “cares and
riches” of this world. For this reason,
many saints have understood “poor in spirit” to be “poor for the sake of the
Spirit,” that is, temporally poor for the sake of spiritual ends. Thus, those
who go into religious life take a radical vow of poverty. But even we lay people should practice
restraint in material wealth. How do we
practice it? The principle of St. Josemaria
was “have nothing unnecessary.” He
encouraged lay people to pare their belongings down to what they really needed
for their vocation, and then to take care of those things so that they would
not constantly be wasting money by replacing them.
Thus,
“poor in spirit” refers to spiritual poverty, but nonetheless is tied to living
a form of temporal poverty as well, because temporal indulgence is incompatible
with spiritual poverty.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
This refers
to those who mourn for their spiritual poverty, for their nothingness, for their
emptiness, for their sins. Thus,
recognizing that you are “poor in spirit” leads to contrition (sorrow for
sins), but that is good, because God will comfort the contrite.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth.
Meekness
is roughly the same as humility. It is the virtue of not putting oneself
forward, not throwing your weight around, being docile. Citizens of the kingdom of heaven are
meek/humble because they realize they are spiritually poor, that they really
aren’t much considered by themselves, without God’s grace.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Kingdom
citizens hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they realize they do not
have it of themselves, but need to receive it from God. By ourselves, we are so weak, and continue to
fall prey to temptations that lead us away from God and estrange us from
others.
Nonetheless,
a secondary sense refers to the practice of fasting. Abstaining from physical food in various ways
is a long-standing spiritual discipline in the Church, from apostolic times
(Acts 14:23) to the present. Fasting is
a tangible way to “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” We want to overcome our sins and disordered
passions so badly, we will undergo hunger and thirst to reach that goal.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy.
Kingdom
citizens are merciful, because, recognizing their own sinfulness and emptiness,
they can empathize with other sinners and grant mercy to them. They recognize in others their own
weaknesses.
Incidentally, although the Year of Mercy is past, mercy continues to be a central part of our lives. If you are interested in learning more about Biblical mercy, I just realized a new talk set on this subject. Click here.
Incidentally, although the Year of Mercy is past, mercy continues to be a central part of our lives. If you are interested in learning more about Biblical mercy, I just realized a new talk set on this subject. Click here.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
The
interior pain that comes from the recognition of spiritual poverty, of mourning
for sin, and seeking God’s grace, purifies the heart from attachments to the
world, particularly the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. Giving in to our passions and disordered
desires clouds our vision and prevents us from seeing reality as it is. Since
God is ultimate Reality, distorted vision keeps us from seeing him. Penance, prayer, and almsgiving are excellent
ways to clear our spiritual eyes.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.
Kingdom
citizens no longer fight and make war, because it is the desire for temporal
goods, essentially lusts, that cause war.
We can see how thoroughly St. James, the Lord’s cousin, assimilated the
beatitudes in James 4:1-10:
James 4:1 What causes
wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at
war in your members? 2 You desire and do
not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage
war. You do not have, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on
your passions. 4 Unfaithful creatures!
Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore
whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is in vain that the
scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell
in us”? 6 But he gives more grace;
therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist
the devil and he will flee from you. 8
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to dejection. 10
Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
True peace
is found from denying our passions and lusts and turning to God to find our
true joy.
10 “Blessed are those who are
persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Kingdom
citizens who live the virtues of the beatitudes will be hated by those who
don’t want to give up their lusts, because,
first of
all, the disciple is a painful reminder to others that they are not following
the way of God; and, secondly, the disciple becomes an impediment to others
fulfilling their lusts, because he will not cooperate. Only in this way can we
understand the hyperbolic venom and slander aimed at the pro-life movement, for
example. Legal protection for the lives
of the unborn would mean persons in our society would have to restrain their
sexuality when they are not in a position to conceive and raise children. Our society as a whole does not want any
constraints on the expression of sexuality, which is a form of the lust of the
flesh. Those who live chastely and
remind others of the dignity of the unborn child are a rude reminder and
impediment to the rest of society in its pursuit of unrestrained indulgence in
the lust of the flesh. So anger, slander,
dismissiveness, and other behaviors are expressed toward those who advocate for
the unborn.
Nonetheless,
the persecution of Christians in most western nations still does not approach
the kind of physical brutality Christians in Muslim and communist countries
continue to experience.
Waves of
persecution come and go throughout the history of the Church. Persecution comes
with a blessing, however, because it
assists in gaining detachment from the things of this world, thus helping us to
live true spiritual poverty.
So
persecution makes us poor, which brings us full circle to the first beatitude:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit …”
Jesus is
the Son of David, come to reestablish the kingdom of the LORD on earth. But Jesus’ kingdom is an upside-down kingdom
that calls good what the world calls bad, and bad what the world calls
good. This Sunday’s readings call us to
leave the ways of the world and practice the virtues of kingdom citizens, but
also warn us that this is a choice to travel upstream against the current of
our culture.
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